Physicians at Winthrop-University Hospital in New York reviewed records of adult patients treated for Clostridium difficile infection, an intestinal infection that often returns after treatment, to see whether having an appendix made any difference to the odds of recurrence.
After adjusting for age and ten other clinical factors, patients with an appendix still intact had a markedly lower risk of recurrent infection, an adjusted relative risk of about 0.4, meaning patients without an appendix were roughly two and a half times as likely to see the infection come back.
The appendix contains a dense patch of immune tissue and appears able to harbor a reserve of gut bacteria that can help reseed the colon after an infection wipes it out, a function closer to a biological backup drive than a useless leftover. The analysis was retrospective and from a single hospital, and later studies, including a meta-analysis, found no clear link between appendectomy and recurrence.
Read the original study
Im et al., Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, 2011 · doi.org/10.1016/j.cgh.2011.06.006
A spare parts bin with a real job.
Source
- Im, G. Y., Modayil, R. J., Lin, C. T., Geier, S. J., Katz, D. S., Feuerman, M., & Grendell, J. H. (2011). The appendix may protect against Clostridium difficile recurrence. Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, 9(12), 1072–7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cgh.2011.06.006